[opera] Pierre Boulez

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Pierre Boulez - 2004 RAVEL - DEBUSSY



Anne Sofie von Otter is really exploiting the French repertory nowadays. After her Mélisande and Carmen, and Chaminade and Offenbach recitals, here she tackles Ravel’s Shéhérazade with total success. From the first cry of ‘Asie’ in the opening song, von Otter beguiles using a hushed, yet expectant quality. Throughout her soft singing is exquisite. The balance between voice and orchestra has all the subtlety this extended prologue requires. At the sinister line, ‘Je voudrais voir des assassins’, she employs a harsh edge to the voice that is immediately echoed in the orchestral climax. As the poet describes the story-telling, Boulez brings the song to its end with a perfect diminuendo, leading into the mysterious ‘Flute enchantée’. Here again von Otter’s control of dynamics pays off with a gorgeous ‘mysterieux baiser’.
The final song is also the most difficult. In its ambiguity, ‘L’indifférent’ must not be over-stressed, and yet that ironic remark at the end, ‘Ta démarche feminine et lasse’ needs to be not so much regretful as a sigh of half-amused resignation. It’s interesting to compare von Otter’s way with it, which seems quite knowing, with Heather Harper in Boulez’s previous recording (CBS, 6/87 – nla), where the mood is altogether sadder.
Le Tombeau de Couperin, in its orchestral version, is an equally difficult challenge which Boulez and the Cleveland orchestra bring off with precision. With the other two orchestral arrangements of piano pieces, the Pavane and the Menuet Antique, again Boulez achieves such clarity that even these over-familiar works sound surprising and fresh.
The Debussy Danses, for harp and strings, serve as a sort of interlude, leading into the other three-song event, the Trois Ballades de François Villon. These are so often sung by a baritone, and indeed they were premièred by Jean Périer, the first Pelléas, that it’s a slight jolt to hear them done by a soprano. Alison Hagley deals well enough with what Jane Bathori used to call the ‘rough and quite choppy’ vocal lines of the first song, ‘Ballade de Villon à s’amye’, but I miss the fuller, darker tones of a baritone in the central prayer. The account of the chattering wives of Paris brings the programme to a merry conclusion. I haven’t enjoyed a mixed orchestra and song disc as much as this for years. The sound throughout is exceptionally vivid, and Boulez, the orchestra and his soloists provide exemplary performances at almost every turn: heartily recommended. (Patrick O'Connor)

Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937)
Shéhérazade
Sur des Vers de Tristan Klingsor
1) 1. Asie [9:53]
2) 2. La flûte enchantée [3:08]
3) 3. L'indifférent [4:15]
Anne Sofie von Otter
The Cleveland Orchestra
Pierre Boulez

Le tombeau de Couperin
Orchestral version
4) 1. Prélude [3:20]
5) 2. Forlane [5:53]
6) 3. Menuet [5:17]
7) 4. Rigaudon [3:14]

8) Pavane pour une infante défunte [6:37]

9) Menuet antique [7:19]
The Cleveland Orchestra
Pierre Boulez

Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918)
Danses for Harp and Orchestra
10) 1. Danse sacrée [5:07]
11) 2. Danse profane [5:10]

Lisa Wellbaum
The Cleveland Orchestra
Pierre Boulez

5 Poèmes de Charles Baudelaire
12) 3. Le jet d'eau [5:49]

Trois ballades de François Villon
13) 1. Ballade de Villon à s'amye [4:21]
14) 2. Ballade que Villon fait à la requeste de sa mère pour prier Nostre Dame [3:45]
15) 3. Ballade des femmes de Paris [1:55]

Alison Hagley
The Cleveland Orchestra
Pierre Boulez

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